headache bar n. a tube or beam suspended horizontally so as to block or bang against vehicles that are too tall for passage; a vehicle’s roll bar or headache rack; any horizontal tube or beam with which a person could collide. Editorial Note: The Historical Dictionary of American Slang dates the near-synonym headache post to 1887. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...